Abstract: The instant invention provides a strip shaped filter material having a longitudinal plane with crimps molded therein for filtering a liquid or a gas comprising filter material being folded in a zigzag shape and having individual fold segments; said individual fold segments being held at a distance from one another via the crimps; said filter material having nondeformed filter strip segments adjacent to each crimp; said crimp having a zenith height; and the filter material having a thickness, in a cross section placed perpendicular to the longitudinal plane of the strip, which constantly decreases within the area of the crimps, starting from the nondeformed filter strip segments, up to the zenith height of the crimp, and that at the same time, the filter material is increasingly compressed in the direction of decreasing thickness.